Teens Build a Car That Runs on 'Social Fuel'

If you're not too popular on Facebook or Twitter, you may want to work on that -- your future mobility may depend on it. A group of Kansas City teens has created a car that runs on social media updates.

The social media-powered car is the brainchild of Minddrive, a nonprofit that works with at-risk youth to "learn, expand their vision of the future and have a positive influence on urban workforce development." The group routinely has students convert gas-powered cars to electric ones; the social media twist makes things a bit more challenging.

The teens installed a small tablet into the circuitry of a 1967 Karmann Ghia. This tablet monitors the "social watts" derived from Minddrive's YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts and filters the power flow accordingly (for example -- a "like" on Instagram equals one social watt; a new Twitter follower equals 5 watts and so on). Users are encouraged to interact with Minddrive's social media accounts to fuel the car from Kansas City to Washington, D.C.